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Wednesday, 2 September 2009

I’m allergic to plastic-bag campaigners

In Vienna a few centuries back they fought off the Turks and saved the West from barbarism.

In Europe in 1815 they rallied together to fight off Napoleon's authoritarian designs on the continent.

In Britain in 1940 they hunkered down alone to defend themselves from Nazism.

But now in modern-day New Zealand we have so few real enemies to rail against (or so some people think) that we take up arms instead against the likes of the humble plastic bag.

Are we insane? And by "we" here, I mean you – you and your friend with the shit-eating mien Russel Norman, and that moron who appeared on TV news last night with the title "Plastic Bag Campaigner" under his mug. How embarrassing it must be to make your one life-time appearance on TV and have that propping up you face! (If the acne-ridden nincompoop has any friends I hoped they videotaped that segment and play it back to him when he's grown up so he can see what an embarrassment he is to humankind.)

Haven't we got some real things to worry about, that we have to start making things up?

Haven't we? Or do these people just feel no shame telling you not just what you can put in your shopping bag, but what sort of damn shopping bag they're going to let you use.

It’s said that more children have more allergies these days because their mothers spend too much time removing any real evils for their immune systems to resist, so they start finding unreal evils like cat hair and peanuts to be immune to instead.

These modern-day vermin are like those They can’t see the bigger picture so concentrate myopically instead on busy-bodying things like your shopping bag and what’s in it.

9 comments:

Very timely post. Just this morning I send this message to Waitakere City mayor Bob Harvey when I read about his rate payer funded bagsnot.co.nz campaign in his self glorifying recycled Waitakere Newsletter.

Reducing the amount of litter of any kind is a good thing, but Bobboy, before a totalitarian like you adds another ban to his long list,may want to think this through properly.

You want to do something about litter. The plastic bags I take homefrom the supermarket don't end up in waterways unless your rubbishcollection methods are inadequate. I do not litter and I teach my sonnot to litter. So, normal use of plastic bags do not pose anenvironmental hazard in waterways or for wildlife.

People that litter are the problem. They don't respect theirenvironment. These people are the least likely to change theirbehaviour just because they have to pay an extra 5 cents for a bag. Sobefore you start interfering in the operations of private companies, aban like that will have absolutely no impact. This is the problem withpeople like you, you always fail to see beyond the next move. Youreally must suck at playing chess.

But I am not done with you yet. In your self glorifying recycled newsletter that I am forced to pay for, you declare single handedly thatWaitakere is going to be bag free. Bob, this is none of your fuckingbusiness! I use as many bags as I want whenever I want and where everI want. Your issue is with litter not with the use of plastic bags.Littering is illegal already so deal with it that way! But no, that istoo hard isn't it Bob, much easier to force an entire population tocrawl back into caves and forego convenient plastic bags at asupermarket because Bobby boy said so.

In Wellington, Foodstuffs is already giving in to consumer pressure asthey back out from their bag free policy and so will every othersupermarket. I like it when a cashier asks me if I want a plastic bag.It makes me consider and often the answer is No. However, if I happento pickup a few bits from the super market and they make it difficultfor me to take their products home then I will leave my groceriesright there on the counter and walk out. I will also make a point todo the exact same thing the day after and again until that retailerwill start to ignore such a stupid ban.

What people like you don't understand is a concept called freedom andfree choice. Out of my own free will I decide when and where I will orwill not use plastic bags. You don't have the right the encroach on myfreedom nor that of private businesses.

So, if you want to lobby against the use of plastic bags then by allmeans do so but don't use force and get your grubby little hands outof the rates till and instead fund your bagsnot campaign with your ownprivate money if you are really so passionate about this.

What always makes me laugh is when people say "oh but I use supermarket bags for so many things: rubbish liners, picking up dog poo, carrying wet clothes, storing things, putting my lunch in, etc. How dare they make me pay 5c for it!!"

It seems to me that if something is so useful, you should be more than willing to pay for it!

And what makes me laugh - not - are fools who fail to understand the difference between a company-imposed charge upon its customers and a state-imposed tax upon everybody.

There is the additional fact of the customer already "paying" for the bags (along with all other costs).

Dinther is correct. Besides, if Harvey is going to use litter as an excuse to ban plastic bags, he'll have to ban fast food wrapping as well. That represents the lion's share of litter and has done for yonks.

1 cent, 5 cents $50 it doesn't matter. The point is that government/council always takes the statist approach rather than enforcing laws that are adequate if enforced.

I have no problem with a supermarket charging for their plastic bags. Hell they can charge an entry fee, browse fee and parking fee. Chances are that I won't go there but it is their call.

The fees we are talking about here are those to be imposed by council. Especially in Waitakere City where Bob Harvey now uses my rates money to run an anti bag campaign. An issue that is none of the councils business.

It is unlikely they will outright ban plastic bags because they can't sell that to the big retailers so they force a charge and either keep the cash or hand it to charities that they support. It is a tax either way.

Check out bagsnot.co.nz and again you will run into the unavoidable picture of this narcissistic prick

I've noticed this bag charge thing at my local New World in the last month or so and have been tempted to say,when asked if I want a bag,"Yes!...in fact can I have half a dozen? They are great for putting over the kids heads to choke the little buggers when they are naughty...far more effective than smaking which of course is just so wrong isn't it?"

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